Over 3 million UK children living in poverty in 2018: Report

More than 3 million British children will be living in poverty this year, according to a new report. (Photo by AFP)

More than 3.1 million British children will spend this year under the official breadline, a new report has revealed, raising questions about Prime Minister Theresa May’s economic policies.

The Research for the Trades Union Congress (TUC), carried out by Landman Economics consultancy firm, found that the number of children growing up in poverty in working households will be one million higher than 2010.

According to the report, the government’s benefit cuts and public sector pay restrictions has pushed some 600,000 children with working parents into poverty.

The biggest increase in child poverty is expected to be seen East Midlands working families, followed by the West Midlands and Northern Ireland, the research noted.

“Years of falling incomes and benefit cuts have had a terrible human cost. Millions of parents are struggling to feed and clothe their kids,” said Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary.

“The government is in denial about how many working families just can’t make ends meet. We need ministers to boost the minimum wage now, and use the social security system to make sure no child grows up in a family struggling to get by.”

The report comes days before a major rally in London this Saturday where activists and workers will call for better contracts.

The report stated that if a household’s income was less than 60 percent of median income after housing costs, it would be considered to be in relative poverty.

A spokeswoman for the Tory government disputed the TUC’s figures, saying, “The reality is there are now 1 million fewer people living in absolute poverty compared with 2010, including 300,000 fewer children.”

The report’s findings were similar to an earlier report in January this year, which claimed more than half of all children in Britain’s very poorest areas are now growing up in poverty due to May’s policies.

The End Child Poverty coalition of charities, which collected the data, attributed the “shocking” figures to the government’s freeze on children’s benefits, which has been in place since 2015.

That report warned that the UK was faced with an “emerging child poverty crisis” because of erratic government policies.